1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parking lock releasing apparatus which includes a manipulator element operable to select a parking range of an automatic transmission, a sensor operable to detect a selection by the manipulator element, an actuator operable to operate a parking lock mechanism of the automatic transmission based on a detection by the sensor, and a manual lever operable to manually release a locking operation of the parking lock mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a parking lock mechanism of an automatic transmission operates automatically when a shift lever is shifted to a “P” position, and automatically released from the operating state when the shift lever is shifted to any other positions than the “P” position. However, when the automatic release of the parking lock mechanism becomes disabled due to a failure of the power supply or the like, a vehicle cannot be towed to be moved. In order to cope with such a case, JP-A-5-288266 discloses a technique in which an operation of a parking lock mechanism can be manually released by operating a manual lever that is provided separately from the shift lever.
However, when the operation of the parking lock mechanism of the automatic transmission is manually released by operating the manual lever so as to tow a vehicle, in a case where the vehicle parked on a slope, there is a possibility that the vehicle may move by a gravity at the moment of manually releasing the operation of the parking lock mechanism, thereby bringing discomfort to a driver.